Maria
April 4, 2003
—Lesson on Fighting & Prayer for Maria's Sore Eyes!—MariaDO 207229/09/85
1. PRAISE THE LORD! THANK YOU JESUS! LORD, WE ASK YOU TO BLESS THIS MEETING TODAY & GIVE US REAL VICTORY IN YOU, LORD real victories all the way around in faith & believing & prayer & healing & all the things we need‚ Lord. Give us all real attention to what is being said, Lord, help us to keep our minds on it & help us all to pull together & unite together & all learn as we go. Help us to be able to take some of these lessons to heart for us personally, each one of our precious family, Lord, something they particularly need or that will particularly help them, lessons from Thy Word as we study it & repeat it. And bring it to memory‚ Lord, that we'll get something out of it that is going to be helpful for us, not only right now but in the future, as we constantly need Thy healing that You have promised us, in Jesus' name.
2. (SINGS: "I TAKE THE STAND, I COUNT IT DONE!", "GOD CAN DO ANYTHING BUT FAIL!" & "IS ANY SICK AMONG YOU?") (Jam.5:13-15) That's a wonderful verse, & that's what I'm here for today‚ to call for the elders of the church to pray over me for my healing. But before we pray I want to share with you something that Grandpa gave me the other night. I want you young people especially to listen real carefully to this & I want you to help me with something.
AFFLICTIONS—OUR MOST FREQUENT BATTLES IN LIFE!
3.BEFORE I READ IT, LET'S PRESENT THE PROBLEM: I'M SICK‚ MY EYES ARE SORE. BUT WHAT DO WE DO WHEN WE'RE SICK OR SOMEBODY ELSE IS SICK? What are we supposed to do get the victory? Maybe somebody here doesn't know what to do. I'm supposed to know what to do, but Grandpa had to even tell me! So when I read this to you‚ listen real carefully & see what Grandpa says that I'm specifically supposed to do to get healing.
4. IT'S THE JOB OF A LEADER, AS PETER & SARA KNOW, & AS GRANDPA HAS TAUGHT US‚ NOT ONLY TO CONFESS OUR OWN PROBLEMS & GET THE VICTORY, BUT TO TRY TO HELP OTHER PEOPLE GET A LESSON OUT OF IT AS AN EXAMPLE! We can't just do it privately & in a corner. We don't only have to get a victory ourselves, but we're responsible to make our problems an example for other people, & when we get the victory, we're responsible to tell you about it & to tell you how to get the victory. I haven't exactly gotten the complete victory yet, but by faith I have! So I want to share it with you & help you to also be able to know how to get the victory if you are sick, or if you have to pray for somebody else, that you'll know how to pray for them & you'11 know what to do.
5. SOME OF OUR BIGGEST BATTLES IN LIFE ARE OUR PHYSICAL AFFLICTIONS. I'll bet every one of you has had some kind of affliction this week, no matter how small. Who hasn't had any kind of affliction this week?—Whether cough, sore throat, pimple on your pum, boils, rashes, allergy, sore knee, sore back, sore tooth, ear ache, stiff neck or creaky joints! Who hasn't had something this week?—An ingrown toenail, a blister on your heel‚ cramps with your period, herpes, headache, cold sores, canker sores, indigestion, an infected cut or bite? Or maybe you had asthma, or the flu, or morning sickness with your pregnancy? See, every single person here including the children were afflicted with some ailment this past week.
6. ONE THING ABOUT THE CHILDREN THEY'RE PRETTY MUCH NEW MODELS & A LOT OF TIMES THEY DON'T HAVE AFFLICTIONS, thank the Lord, & the Lord keeps them pretty well! But this past week they've all had some sicknesses too. A lot of children in the System, in the World, have lots of afflictions all the time, but the Lord really preserves & keep our children. Very rarely do you children have sicknesses, but still, you fall down & get some scrapes or have a little pimple or sore or something, but mostly you don't have very much, TTL! The rest of us who are older & a little more worn out are usually having something practically every week!
7. WELL, YOU CAN SEE, JUST BY THIS UNANIMOUS SHOW OF HANDS, WHY FAITH FOR HEALING IS ONE OF THE MOST NECESSARY THINGS IN OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE! It's almost more frequent & common to have physical afflictions that it is to have spiritual afflictions. Of course, we always have ongoing spiritual battles & we're always gaining victories, & we're always progressing in our spiritual lives. If I were to ask, "Who has had some spiritual battles this week?" maybe you'd all say you had spiritual battles too! But a lot of times the physical things seem more bothersome & are more difficult to get the victory over them the spiritual ones!—And get you more down & discouraged. It's a little more difficult to know how to attack them sometimes & what the Lord is trying to teach you through them.
HOW THE ENEMY USES SICKNESS!
8. PHYSICAL AFFLICTIONS ARE REALLY STUBBORN & YOU GET THEM OVER & OVER & OVER. You get healed of one & you get another! Why do you think that is? (Fam: To keep you dependent on the Lord. To keep you humble.)—Yes, both, to keep you dependent on the Lord & keep you humble & keep you sympathising with other people. (Fam: To keep you in the Word & close to the Lord!)—Right! Actually‚ there are about 30 reasons why you get sick listed in the Kidz MOP! (See Kidz MOP Vol.2, pgs.588–601.) That isn't just for little kids, it's for big ones, too—like us! We didn't put it there just for the children, we expect the adults to want to learn from it too.
9. DID YOU EVER STOP TO THINK WHY MAYBE THE ENEMY USES ILLNESSES & SICKNESS TO ATTACK MANY OF US SOMETIMES EVEN MORE THAN THINGS LIKE JEALOUSY, SELFISHNESS & PRIDE? Number one, you usually become discouraged when you're sick. Do you remember, Techi, when you had to keep blowing your nose & blowing your nose & blowing your nose when you had that bad bad cold & you thought it would never stop & your nose was all stuffed up‚ & every night when you went to sleep you got a little discouraged because you couldn't breathe well & also because you weren't getting better?
10. NOT ONLY DO YOU GET DISCOURAGED‚ BUT IT CAN MAKE YOU IRRITABLE WITH OTHER PEOPLE, so it doesn't help your relationship with others much. If you adults have‚ for example, a bad headache or an actual sickness where you're down in bed & you can't do anything, then you have to neglect your children or your husband or wife. So you not only get discouraged about the sickness itself, but you get off guard & you get weakened to the point where you become irritable‚ upset‚ sharp with others. See, a physical attack is usually double-barrelled, with a spiritual attack at the same time.
11. SO THAT'S A REAL CRUEL CUT OF THE ENEMY TO GET YOU DOWN IN HE PHYSICAL, because usually discouragement & other kinds of problems come along with it. Maybe you've had herpes & you can't have the fellowship you'd like to with somebody, there are all kinds of things that being sick keep you from doing or makes you do that aren't good, like being irritable & non-communicative, all kinds of things! So the Enemy really likes to use sickness. We're not trying to glorify the Enemy here, I'm just telling you why he does it‚ & he does it, & he does it a lot!
12. BUT WE HAVE THE VICTORY EVERY TIME, DON'T WE? We fight the battle & we always win the victory! Every time we get sick, we always get well again. We have the power over sickness through Jesus, Who bore our own sins & sicknesses in His Own body on the cross, that through His sufferings we might be healed. We have as many victories as we do battles. I'm just telling you why the Enemy is able to give us so many of these afflictions. The Lord allows him, because like you said, it has all these good effects too!—To keep us humble & more dependent on the Lord & closer to others & compassionate with others.
13. THE DEVIL ATTACKS US WITH THESE PHYSICAL AFFLICTIONS BECAUSE THROUGH IT HE CAN TRY TO GET US DISCOURAGED & GET US DOWN, BUT THERE'S A GREATER VICTORY IN IT, much greater than the Enemy's discouragement. The Enemy thinks he's really going to get us with it, but the Lord brings a victory out of seeming defeat!
14. I JUST WANTED TO TELL YOU WHY WE ALL NEED FAITH FOR HEALING & WHY WE NEED IT SO MUCH! We have to claim it constantly! The Enemy is always trying to get in & do something to you, & no matter how small it is, it's still an annoyance. If you even get a little cut on your finger, your whole body can hurt, or if you get a little blister on your toe it's hard to walk. It doesn't have to be very big to be a bother & a hindrance.
15. THANK THE LORD HE DOESN'T USUALLY LET THE ENEMY DO ANYTHING VERY BIG TO US. People in the World have lots of terrible afflictions & diseases & sickness & illnesses & operations & accidents & all kinds of very very bad things, but the Lord doesn't usually allow the Enemy to do anything very bad to us. If it's something serious, it usually is something that the Lord is really trying to get through to us on. But usually they're pretty small things. We may think they're bad, but compared to the World they're very small.
16. JUST WATCH SOME OF THESE VIDEOS THAT HAVE THESE HORRIBLE HOSPITAL SCENES with the worst things happening to these people over & over & over! They have this fixation or phobia or something about hospitals & illnesses. There is some hospital scene in half the movies you see, some terrible thing is always happening to people. And that's the way it really is in the World, they have all kinds of things wrong with them because they don't have the Lord to protect them.
17. WE NEED TO REALISE WHAT THE ENEMY IS TRYING TO DO IN LETTING US HAVE ALL THESE AFFLICTIONS. We get healed of one & then we get another, we get healed of that & then a few days later we get another! That's why everybody's always having to ask for prayer. But thank the Lord, they don't usually last long. You get the victory, you have a few days reprieve & then you get another one. Well, That's not the Lord's fault, that's the Enemy fighting us! But out of it the Lord gives us a lot of victories!
18. SOME OF THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN THE SICKEST & HAVE HAD THE MOST PROBLEMS HAVE GROWN THE CLOSEST TO THE LORD, because they've learned from it & accepted that those things are to draw them closer to the Lord.—Not that they exactly accepted the illnesses, they need to fight those, but they've accepted that even though the Devil brought it to them, in a way, the Lord allowed it for a reason‚ for His reason, a good reason, not a bad one.
DAD'S PRAYER FOR MARIA!
19. SO THIS IS A LITTLE PRAYER GRANDPA PRAYED FOR ME & A LITTLE TALK HE GAVE TO ME TWO NIGHTS AGO WHEN HE WAS CONCERNED ABOUT ME & MY EYES. would you like to hear it? (Fam: Amen!) PTL! As I read it to you, see if you can see what I'm supposed to do to get healed. I'm not going to read you the whole thing, because it would take too long, since Grandpa repeated a lot & I responded, but I'll just read you the main points. Lord bless this reading in Jesus' name‚ & may it bear good fruit in the hearts of those who hear it. Grandpa woke up about three o'clock in the morning & was really praying for me & really concerned:
20. "LORD BLESS HER IN JESUS' NAME! HELP HER, LORD, PRECIOUS JESUS! HAVE MERCY‚ LORD! Have mercy on this Thy handmaiden that does nothing but try to please You‚ Lord. Do Your work‚ Lord, with these precious precious eyes! O Jesus‚ touch & heal! Rebuke the Enemy in Jesus' name! Touch & heal her. Lord, these are Your eyes, You created them, now You take care of them, Lord! Rebuke the Enemy, in Jesus' name! Touch & heal these eyes, Lord! Precious Jesus! Forgive her if she abused them‚ even though unintentionally, forgive me for not helping her & not knowing how she was abusing them. Lord, touch & heal these eyes, precious Jesus! Touch & heal them! Rebuke the Enemy, Lord Jesus! Touch & heal these eyes!
21. "I REBUKE YOU, SATAN, IN THE NAME OF JESUS Take your hand off this, the Lord's Anointed, the Lord's Handmaiden! You have no right here at all! We resist you, Satan‚ in the Name of Jesus! You promised, Lord, it we resist the Enemy he will flee from us! (Jam.4:7) We resist the enemy in the Name of Jesus! Take away this affliction, Lord, so she can use her eyes! Lord, if she's abusing them in any way she shouldn't be, we ask Thee to forgive her. Like You promised, 'Who healeth all thy diseases, Who forgiveth all thy iniquities.' (Psa.103:3) Rebuke, Lord, these afflictions, forgive her for abusing her eyes even when she didn't know it, Lord, in Jesus' name! Rebuke this thing in the Name of Jesus!
22. "YOU PROMISED, 'THEY SHALL LAY HANDS ON THE SICK & THEY SHALL BE HEALED!' (MK.16:18) So I right now lay may hands on this sick one, & Lord, I command Thee to recover her! You said, 'Command thou Me!' (Isa.45:11) So we ask Thee in Jesus' name to do it! Rebuke this affliction, Lord! In the Name of Jesus, I resist you, Satan! We rebuke this affliction! Amen! TYL! Amen! 'He will heal you for the prayer of your Father & the compassion of David & with these seven Kisses of his love!'—In Jesus' name, amen! PTL! TYJ!"
23. WHAT ARE THE SEVEN KISSES OF HIS LOVE? Do you know? The Lord said, "He will heal you for the prayer of your Father & the compassion of David & with these seven kisses of his love." It says "these seven kisses of his love." When you say "these" means it's something we're talking about that is right here right now. If He had said "those seven kisses" you might wonder that it was‚ but when He says "these seven kisses of his Love"—what has Grandpa said the kisses are? (Fam: The Words!)—Right! "These seven kisses of his love!" I don't know what the Lord means by the seven, because there are more than seven words in this prayer‚ but the Lord knows‚ & that's what matters. Maybe that's just symbolic of the perfection or completeness of them. So He's talking about the Word that he's been saying! "He'll heal you with these seven kisses of his love."
24. (MARIA CONTINUES READING DAVID'S PRAYER:) "THE LORD HAS TO HEAL YOU BECAUSE IT IS MORE THAN I CAN BEAR!"—Now you see Grandpa's great love & concern. "If He wants me to go on & do my part, He has to heal you. I woke up lying on my left side with my left eye hurting so bad‚ like I had something in it. It was like it was stuck. I woke up & I wiped it & I rubbed it & it finally went away. I never had anything like that before. It's almost like I couldn't move it. It must be the Devil! In Jesus' name! I think the Devil is trying to break us down! He's trying to stop these projects & keep me from doing Heaven's Children! But Lord, I believe You want it for the sake of our children in Jesus' name.
25. "IT'S TOO MUCH FOR ME! I CAN'T STAND THE BURDEN OF YOU & ME BOTH! I'm so sorry I'm so weak‚ but I can't take it. I'm sick with it, I'm really sick with it. it makes me sick. It really hurts me more than it does you. So why don't you get the victory so I won't hurt so much? It's interfering with my work! I can't do my work! I can't do my work if I hurt so much for you. Honey, & you hurt so much. You just have to stop hurting me‚ Sweetheart. You've just got to get healed, Honey, so you won't hurt me so much. Maybe I could just forget my work & just do yours for you okay?"—And I said, "Please‚ no no no, I'll get healed!" Then again Grandpa spoke in tongues & the Lord said, "The Lord shall hear the prayers of thy father & the pleas of David, the Saint, that thou mayest be healed from this affliction to do the will of God with the seven kisses!"—Isn't that beautiful? Grandpa continues:
26. "ALL RIGHT, LORD, DO IT! DO IT NOW LORD! Quit fooling around & do it, in Jesus name, because I just can't take it! I can't take it any more! Will you claim those promises? I can't take it! So will you please get healed for my sake, Honey, so I can get my job done, please? Would you please get the victory? Will you please get the victory to relieve me of the burden? The Lord said He would, so will you take it?—In Jesus' name‚ amen.
27. "IF THE LORD CAN'T HEAL YOU, I'M GOING TO QUIT! I now He can, but if He won't, then why should I go on? I He doesn't love you & doesn't care & won't heal you, I just don't want to because that's mean & don't like it. So why should I work & please Him if He won't be good to you?"—Grandpa was getting real discouraged. We know the Lord will do it & He's going to, right? But Grandpa was getting discouraged because I didn't get the victory any faster.
28. "DO YOU HEAR ME? IF HE'S NOT GOING TO BE GOOD TO YOU, THEN I'M NOT GOING TO BE GOOD EITHER!" I said, "I know He's going to heal me." he said, "well, He has to do it real quick if He wants me to do any more because I don't think I'm going to do any more until He heals you!
29. "ARE YOU GOING TO CLAIM THE VICTORY? ARE YOU GOING TO REBUKE THE DEVIL? Do you rebuke Oplexicon? Do you rebuke the Sphinx? Do you rebuke Ashraf? She's trying to choke your eyes, Honey, like she tried to choke my stomach! But I got the victory & I go ahead anyway & I eat anyhow. I pray over every bite, so why don't you pray over every look? You just got to pray over it & resist the Enemy & rebuke them all, all the devils Oplexicon, Ashraf, the sphinx & all of them! Don't you understand?
30. "THEY'RE TRYING TO CHOKE THE WORD OF GOD, HONEY, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT? They're trying to choke your eyes like they choked my stomach! But I'm getting the victory over them & I eat anyway & I get it down when I fight & I rebuke them! I get the nourishment & I trust the Lord & I get it down in Jesus' name. I have to pray over every swallow, so why don't you pray over every look & every thing you have to read & rebuke the Devil & resist the Evil One & he will flee from you, in Jesus' name!
31. "DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND HOW THE DEVIL IS TRYING TO BLACK IT OUT? You've got to see that, Honey! Rebuke it! Fight! Fight! Fight, Team, fight! Don't you understand? He's fighting you! You've got rebuke him & fight in Jesus' name! Sit there & look at that paper & fight! Rebuke the Devil who is trying to blind you, in Jesus' name!
32. "DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THE LORD NEEDS YOUR EYES?—That He has to have them? So why don't you trust the Lord? Why don't you rebuke the Devil that is trying to interfere, & why don't you just trust the Lord! I mean you've got to fight, team, fight! It's the Devil! It's a battle! You've got to just rebuke & resist the Devil so he will flee from you! The Lord can heal you, but He has to have your cooperation. Don't you understand? The Devil's trying to make you blind if he can, he'll block it all out if he can! You've got to fight, Honey! When are you going to start fighting?
33. "CLAIM THE PROMISES! I AM THE LORD THAT HEALETH THEE! Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases!' You cannot be in bondage! 'Whom the Lord has set free, is free indeed!' Quote Scripture against the Devil! When the Devil tempted Jesus, He claimed Scriptures, & you've got to claim scripture!
34. "OH, I FORGOT SOMETHING! THE LORD SHOWED ME YOU HAVE TO GO BEFORE THE SUNDAY MEETING OF THE FAMILY & HAVE THEM LAY HANDS ON YOU & HAVE PRAYER. You have to humble yourself & go before them all & show that you need their prayers. That will encourage them when the Lord answers‚ see? 'If there's any sick among you‚ let him call for the elders of the church & let them pray over him‚ anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, & the Lord shall raise them up. And if they have committed any sins, they shall be forgiven them.' (Jam.5:14-15) Did you hear that? So I want you to go to their Sunday Meeting & I want you to have their hands laid on you & have them anoint you with oil & pray for You!
35. "IT'S A TESTIMONY! IT IS TO GLORIFY THE LORD! YOU HAVE TO HUMBLE YOURSELF! 'Humble yourself, therefore‚ under the mighty hand of God that He may openly deliver you!’"—How about that, the Lord gave that verse a different translation. The Bible says, "Humble yourself, therefore, under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time." (1Pe.5:6) But Dad said "that He may openly deliver you!" "you've got to go before the congregation & let them openly lay hands on you. Openly confess & ask the Lord to forgive you & openly ask them for help, & the Lord will heal you!
36. "LORD REBUKE THIS DEVILISH SICKNESS! IT'S OF THE DEVIL! Do you want to accept it from the Devil? Well then, will you go before the congregation & be prayed for & laid hands on & anointed with oil? Expect it! That's His law, that's His commandment! You have to put Him on the spot, & when you do it, He will do it! Is that clear?"
PRAYERS POINTERS!
37. PTL! ISN'T THAT A BEAUTIFUL ADDITION TO OUR HEALING LETTERS? It doesn't say anything different than Dad has always said for years, but it's a very powerful prayer & it brings out some very important points. All right, young people! Oh, Techi has her hand up already! Very good! You knew what I was going to say, didn't You? (Techi: You were going to ask if we know what we should do when we pray for healing.) Exactly! OK, let's see if we can get all the points. (Techi: We should anoint you with oil.) Right, anoint me with oil. Very good. Anybody remember anything else? (Teen: Stand on God's Word)—Right! (David: Have open prayer so that it will be a testimony for everyone.)—Right, exactly! Very good. (Teen: Resist the Enemy!)—Amen, that's a very big part of it. (Davida: Claim the Scripture & go before the congregation to be prayed for. Also use your eyes more wisely.)—Right!—And in connection with using my eyes more wisely. ... (Teen: Ask for forgiveness!)—Right, exactly! Ask the Lord's forgiveness for abusing my eyes. Is there anything else?
38.(DAVID: REBUKE THE SICKNESS & THE DEVILS THAT CAUSE IT BY NAME!)—Right! (John: Lay hands.) (Peter: Fight!)—Right! Yes‚ one of you children already mentioned that more or less, but that's good to sum it up—fight! That's a big part of it. So before we say more about that, let's see if there was anything else. Can anybody remember anything else? (Fam: Pray before every look!)—Exactly, & that's part of the fight! Very good. (Fam: Put God on the spot!) (John: "Command thou me!" And it said you've got to humble yourself.) (Teen: Claim the victory & have faith & not fear.)—Very good! (John: Call for the elders.) And David already said rebuke the Enemy by name‚ the names we know that Grandpa said to rebuke. All the demons, all the devils. You did really good, 100%! I think you got'm all! TTL!
REBUKE THE ENEMY!
39. GOING BACK TO FIGHTING THE ENEMY, DID YOU SEE HOW MANY TIMES GRANDPA SAID THAT?—Not only "fight," but Techi, can you think of any other words Grandpa used for "fight" in here that mean the same thing?—Anything that means fighting or similar to it? What do we do when we pray for the sick? That's a pretty hard question for Techi, but she gets it sometimes. What do you say when you're really fighting in the spirit & praying for somebody to be healed? What do you say to the Devil? We what? (Davida: We rebuke you!)—Right! And that's fighting the Enemy! And what else do we say? (Davida: We resist you!)—That's fighting too, isn't it?
40. LOOK HOW MANY TIMES GRANDPA SAID THIS: "REBUKE THE ENEMY! Rebuke the Enemy! Rebuke the Enemy! We rebuke you, Satan! We resist you, Satan! Resist the Enemy & he will flee from you! Resist the Enemy! Rebuke, Lord, these afflictions! Rebuke this thing in the Name of Jesus! Rebuke this affliction! We resist you, Satan! We rebuke this affliction! Why don't you get the victory?" Well, that's not exactly saying the same thing as fight, but in a way it is because to get the victory you have to have the battle! You have to fight in order to get the victory‚ so that's the result. So Grandpa in a way right there is saying, "Why don't you fight & get the victory?" Victory denotes fighting, because you can't have a victory without a fight!—Right?—Without a battle! Let's see where else he said something like that.
41. "WILL YOU PLEASE GET THE VICTORY? ARE YOU GOING TO CLAIM THE VICTORY? ARE YOU GOING TO REBUKE THE DEVIL? Do you rebuke Oplexicon? Do you rebuke the Devil? Resist the Enemy! Rebuke them, all the devils!" He said, "I'm getting the victory over them. Rebuke the Devil, resist the Enemy! Rebuke it! Fight! Fight, Team, Fight! He's fighting you, you've got to rebuke him & fight! Sit down, look at that paper & fight! Rebuke the Devil who is trying to blind you, in Jesus' name! Trust the Lord! Why don't you rebuke the Devil?"
42. LOOK HOW MANY TIMES HE SAID THAT! I didn't even read you the whole thing for lack of time, but Grandpa said that many more times‚ I'm just repeating to you the ones that I already read you! "I mean you've got to fight‚ Team, fight! It's the Devil! It's a battle! You've got to rebuke & resist the Devil! You've got to resist the Devil, you've got to fight, Honey! When are you going to start fighting? Claim the promises!"
43. THAT'S ANOTHER THING, CLAIMING THE PROMISES! You're resisting the doubts of the Enemy & the lies of the Enemy when you claim the Lord's Truth in His promises, so that's fighting too. "Quote Scriptures against the Devil, come against him," that's fighting him too. "Lord rebuke this devilish sickness!" That's about it, but that's only half of it all. Grandpa just kept repeating it over & over. He really wanted me to get the point!
WHEN ARE PHYSICAL AFFLICTIONS SPIRITUAL ATTACKS?
44. GRANDPA MADE IT CLEAR MY SORE EYES ARE AN ATTACK OF THE DEVIL, even though the problem may have come through a physical channel, through my not treating my eyes properly. Do you think most of our sicknesses & illnesses & diseases are attacks of the Enemy? Well‚ either they're direct attacks or they are used by him to hinder us. So we know they're of the Enemy one way or the other because they do what? (Teen: Because they hinder you.)—Right, very good‚ Honey!—Because they hinder the Lord's work, & we know they're not of God & they're not of Lord if they do that. We know they're of the enemy if they're hindering God's work. We know they're of the Enemy & they're not of the Lord & they need to be rebuked & fought against if they hinder the work.
45. AND LET'S FACE IT, MOST OF OUR ILLNESSES OR SICKNESSES OR AFFLICTIONS HINDER THE LORD'S WORK IN SOME WAY OR THE OTHER. If they don't outright hinder our daily work schedule like putting us out flat on our back in bed or something, like I said, they'll make us irritable or short tempered or blunt or brusque with other people & they distract us from what we're supposed to be doing. So most afflictions really are of the enemy, & therefore they're not only physical but spiritual & therefore we need to resist the Enemy!
46. SOME AFFLICTIONS OR LITTLE PROBLEMS AREN'T NECESSARILY SPIRITUAL ATTACKS.—Like many of you wear glasses but your eyes aren't hurting or bothering you, you don't have any serious problem with them, you just wear glasses like I did all my life. I didn't really have any problem as long as I kept my glasses on. It seemed like because I had stopped wearing them for awhile that I had the problem. So I wouldn't exactly say that less-than—perfect eyes that require glasses is really a spiritual attack of the Enemy. It's something that really doesn't affect us too much as long as we keep our glasses on. Dad said to me, "You were probably born short–sighted!" A lot of people were born that way‚ other people sort of abuse their eyes by overuse or reading in poor light or whatever, but they get glasses & then they're all right.
47. SO FAR MOST OF US NORMAL PEOPLE THAT JUST HAVE TO WEAR GLASSES ALL OUR LIVES‚ IT'S NOT TOO MUCH OF A PROBLEM, or when you get older like Grandpa even very good eyes sometimes get a little weak & need glasses to help them see, & those are cases where I wouldn't say it's a spiritual attack of the Enemy. And there are other little things that maybe you wouldn't even call afflictions, like the wart I had & one of you had too. It wasn't something that affected our work at all, but it probably kept us humble. So it wasn't something we had to really attack the Enemy on. Of course‚ the Enemy brings on all these things, & the Lord allows it. The Enemy brings it on because he's the destroyer & corrupter & perverter, so all of this stuff is from the Enemy in a way.
48. I'M JUST SAYING THAT ALTHOUGH YOU HAVE TO FIGHT A SPIRITUAL BATTLE AGAINST MOST SICKNESSES & DISEASES, SOME OF THESE LITTLE THINGS AREN'T NECESSARILY IN THAT CATEGORY. They don't hurt us a bit. We just don't like them, maybe because we're a little proud or something. They're things that you can pray against & if you have the faith & it is the Lord's will, He will take them away. Grandpa prayed for your wart to go away, & other people prayed, & Techi & Grandpa prayed for mine. But I had to tell the Lord, "Well, Lord, I don't really need it to be taken away because maybe it's good for my pride." It just started with a little tiny red dot, & over the course of 3 years it grew. So I figured well, it will keep growing & I didn't want that, but I didn't really know if it was the Lord's will that He take it away or not. I thought, "Well, maybe I do need to be humbled, maybe I should keep it!"
49. THAT'S A SITUATION WHERE WE DIDN'T REALLY FIGHT THE ENEMY, WE JUST PRAYED THAT THE LORD WOULD TAKE IT AWAY IF IT WAS HIS WILL. We claimed Scriptures & healing if it was the Lord's will, & after awhile, it was really a miracle, it started loosening up! I'd had it for three years. it started loosening up little by little by little, & then it just dropped off. I mean it was a real miracle! What happened to yours? (Fam: It fell off after I'd had it two or three years.) It's nothing short of a miracle when those things happen.
50. BUT THAT WASN'T SOMETHING THAT WE HAD TO REALLY BATTLE THE ENEMY ABOUT. It could have been the Lord's will that we kept it, but thank the Lord He took it away, so obviously it was His will to take it away. This kind of thing doesn't affect the Lord's Work. But I would say most of our afflictions & difficulties & diseases & illnesses are really an attack of the enemy, whether they're of physical or spiritual origin, & the Enemy is really trying to hinder the Lord's Work through them in some way or other. So I would say that's why Grandpa's emphasis in this prayer is rebuking the Enemy & fighting the Devil even more than just claiming the Scriptures or the healing.
PEOPLE OF GREAT FAITH!
51. WE KNOW THAT THE LORD WANTS TO HEAL US FOR HIS WORK'S SAKE. WE'VE HAD SO MUCH EXPERIENCE WITH THAT & THE LORD'S NEVER FAILED US! We were going over some of the stories of Jesus' healing in the Gospels‚ the blind man & some of those other healings, & just think of what great faith they had! They didn't have the experience of healings of all the many Saints & Christians & all of our Family for years like we do! They really had to have faith in the unseen, the unknown‚ faith for things they never or rarely had seen happen before.
52. WE HAVE ALL THIS EXPERIENCE OF SO MANY PEOPLE THAT HAVE GOTTEN HEALED TIME AFTER TIME & THE LORD'S NEVER FAILED! So we don't have to have so much faith as they did! I'm not saying we shouldn't try to have more faith‚ but compared with them it's easier for us to believe & have faith because we see how the Lord has been healing people for thousands of years! And we have our own personal experience of all the many times He's healed us!
53. WHEN JESUS TOLD THEM THEY HAD GREAT FAITH, HE REALLY MEANT GREAT FAITH! They probably hadn't heard of healing before Jesus came along. But they said, "Just speak the word & my servant shall be healed‚" though he was dead or dying! One of them was already dead & he said to Jesus, "Speak the Word!" And Jesus said, "You have such great faith‚ no greater faith have I found in all Israel!" (Mt.8:5-10) That man probably had never heard of that happening before‚ at least before in all those other healings. They didn't have years & years & years of thousands upon thousands of people who had been healed to base their faith on. It was just that Word that Jesus said, or maybe they'd heard of Jesus doing some of these things. They had very great faith, no wonder Jesus told them that!
54. BUT IT'S NOT SO HARD FOR US TO HAVE FAITH!—Although it is hard & the Enemy fights it, but it shouldn't be at all difficult for us to have faith compared with those people back there! They hardly knew Jesus! You couldn't say they were Christians like we are Christians. They just were raw heathen, they didn't know anything! But they still had faith & they had great faith! So if they had much faith‚ we certainly ought to be able to have faith for our healing. We have experience with healing & we hear time after time after time how all of you have gotten healed. We know from our own experiences that the Lord has constantly healed us, & we know all the verses to claim & we know the Scriptures on healing. So that's the first step. We've pretty much established that, we know the Lord can & wants to heal us, we know the Lord can & wants to heal us, we know the Scriptures are true‚ we know God can't fail!
FIGHT FOR YOUR HEALING!
55. THE NEXT STEP & THE THING THAT IS EVEN MORE IMPORTANT HERE IS TO FIGHT! Most of us who have been Christians a long time & been in the Family a long time, know God will heal! Of course, we all get tested with believing for ourselves, but it shouldn't be so hard. We've got everybody else's experience & our own experience & all the Word & all the years in the Family & all the Bible & all the Saints to look at. So that shouldn't be such a problem for us. But there's more to healing than that! A lot of times there's more to healing than just saying, "Well, Lord, Your Word is true, You said, 'These signs shall follow them that believe' & that's all we need."
56. THE LORD'S HEALING IS THERE JUST AS MUCH AS IT ALWAYS WAS & IT ALWAYS IS, but the enemy is really fighting us very hard, fighting against the Lord's healing. Remember that Letter "Difficulty in Spiritual Communications"? (#1846) Dad said he's going to come back & help us, but there's that hindrance there, that force, the Enemy fighting. The Lord said it & we believe it, but we're going to have to fight for our healing! It's there, & it's not that the Lord won't do it, He wants to do it & He's going to do it, but we've got to get over that barrier & really fight the battle in the Spirit & not just be lethargic!
57. IT'S NOT ENOUGH JUST TO CLAIM & QUOTE THE SCRIPTURES! Grandpa said to quote the Scriptures & claim the Scriptures, but he also said you've got to do more than that. He said fight! Resist! Rebuke the Enemy! So that's a big part of our healing. He said all this before. This isn't anything new, but the more I think about it the more I see that in some cases just believing is not enough. Sometimes it's enough, like with little tiny things that don't bother us much‚ we just claim a verse & thank the Lord‚ & that's enough. But in some of these difficult cases & big cases‚ we've got to really fight the Enemy! Jesus made a difference in cases when He said, "This kind cometh not out but by fasting & prayer." (Mat.17:21) In other words‚ some required more effort than others.
58. SOMETIMES IT'S A BIG SPIRITUAL ATTACK!—I'll just take my own eyes for example: I have a very important job & there are some things I have to do that nobody else can do, so if I don't have my eyes those jobs don't get done, at least for right now. But thank the Lord I've been going ahead & doing as much as I could anyway by reading even though my eyes were sore.
59. THAT'S ANOTHER PART OF FIGHTING, YOU CAN'T JUST GO TO BED INDEFINITELY & EXPECT THE LORD TO HEAL YOU! I could just stop using my eyes & say I'll rest them & I'll go to bed for awhile & see how they do‚ & that may help some if I've been overusing my eyes‚ but in a spiritual fight that's not going to entirely get rid of the problem. It's not going to help me to go to bed & not use my eyes. I could close my eyes for a whole week or two, but in this spiritual fight that's not the answer! The problem is still there & it's not going to go away just because I don't use my eyes! It may help a bit temporarily‚ but it isn't going to get rid of the problem.
60. SO IT'S A REAL ATTACK OF THE ENEMY & WE HAVE TO REBUKE IT, NOT JUST GO TO BED! In "The Power of Positive Praise" (#1375) I came to the conclusion that going to bed wasn't going to help my headache. if it is a spiritual battle, just going to bed isn't the cure, even though there are times when if you have a headache from tiredness or overdoing, going to bed is probably part of what you need & it'll help. But if it's a real attack of the enemy, no matter what you do it isn't going to get you the complete victory unless you really fight the enemy & rebuke the Devil & get the victory over him! Sometimes taking an aspirin may help my headache temporarily, but to get a real lasting victory over headaches I need to really pray & rebuke the Enemy & claim the Lord's victory! (To Davida:) Understand, Honey? You're a good little fighter! All you kids are, you're learning to be real fighters for the Lord & that's good!
61. OCCASIONALLY AFFLICTIONS ARE ONLY SPIRITUAL WITH NO PHYSICAL CAUSE, like Dad waking with his eye hurting or waking up choking in the night for no apparent reason. But most of our physical afflictions have some kind of physical cause‚ brought on by our mistakes or sins or through no fault of our own but through our man-polluted environment or sinful, wicked & diseased people we have to have contact with, like in "Dirty Dishes." (No.566) So most of our afflictions are not solely spiritual in origin, because the Enemy usually works through natural channels & uses our physical afflictions to spiritually attack us. The spiritual realm is much greater & more powerful than the physical & it takes that fight in the Spirit to overcome the physical afflictions.
62. BUT THE LORD ALSO EXPECTS US TO DO WHAT WE CAN IN THE PHYSICAL AS WELL! If we need rest, we should get it if we can. if good food will help, He expects us to eat it. Most important is rebuking the Devil & fighting in the Spirit, but you must also do all you can to obey God's physical natural health laws as well. "This ye ought to have done but not to have left the other undone." (Mat.23:23) Like Jesus said to the people at Lazarus' grave, "Roll ye away the stone!" (John 11:39)—The physical hindrance & obstacle that they could take care of themselves. In other words, do what you can & He will do the rest.
63. I KNOW WHEN I HAVE A HEADACHE I HAVE TO REBUKE THE ENEMY, I KNOW IT'S THE ENEMY FIGHTING ME. But that doesn't mean I should just expect the Lord to do everything & not also do what I can to help. It's a known medical fact that sleep usually helps most illnesses, so if I can get some sleep when I'm ill it will usually help somewhat. But we can't put our hope in the sleep. We have to trust in the Lord or He probably won't even let the sleep help us. Usually I go to bed & try to sleep when I have a headache—I can't do much else—but if after an hour or two of sleep I still have the headache, then I know the cause of the headache is not related to lack of sleep & neither is the solution more sleep. And if I take an aspirin & that doesn't help, I usually know then I have to get desperate with the Lord & that the Enemy is really fighting me.
DON'T BE LAZY!—STIR YOURSELF UP!
64. WE CAN'T BE LETHARGIC & LAZY! That's my tendency! It's a natural tendency to be lazy & lethargic & to do sort of the minimum that you have to do. I dare say that most of us are like that, it's sort of human nature.—But not everybody is like that! I'd say Dad is far from that way & there are a lot of other people that aren't. But the majority of us usually take the easy way out & we are normally a little lazy & lethargic & we don't want to get into too many fights, it's too much of a problem, it takes too much out of us. So we just sort of sit back & say a little prayer & let things go on until they get so desperate that we've gotta fight & there's nothing else to do!
65. SO THIS IS WHAT I REALLY NEEDED BECAUSE I'VE BEEN CLAIMING THE SCRIPTURES PRAYING, BUT I HAVEN'T REALLY GOTTEN DESPERATE! I figured, "Well, the Lord's going to heal me, I believe in God's healing. I know He's going to heal me because I need the healing." But I could have gone on for years thinking the same thing & still not gotten healed! True, the Lord has that healing for me & I believe Him & I believe the Scriptures & I believed I was going to get healed. But this counsel is what I needed, to go that extra step & really fight & rebuke the Enemy in the spirit! It's not enough for me or for us in these spiritual attacks just to say, "Okay, we'll read over all the Scriptures on healing & faith & prayer, & Lord, we claim all these scriptures & that's it, we're going to get healed!"
66. LIKE DAD SAID, EVERY SWALLOW FOR HIM IS A FIGHT! HE'S GOT TO FIGHT CONSTANTLY! You have to fight constantly with the Word! It's not enough to just read the promises over & say "Okay‚ Lord, I know I can be healed. Look, everybody else has been healed, & of course You're going to heal me. I ask forgiveness for my sins & I know I'm going to be healed." Do you understand the difference? In a way that's fighting‚ that's what you're supposed to do, that's one part of it‚ but that's not enough to win the battle! You've got to really be militant about it & aggressive & really sock it to the Enemy!
67. TELL THE ENEMY, 'THE LORD HEALETH ALL OUR DISEASES' BUT YOU ARE THE CULPRIT & YOU GET OUT OF HERE! I don't want anything more to do with you & I resist you‚ Satan, in Jesus' name!" It's not enough just to look at the verses on healing & quote them, "Who healeth all our diseases, lay hands on the sick & they shall be healed‚ by His stripes we are healed"—fine, we are‚ that's true—but we've got to also on the other hand sock it to the Enemy & overcome that barrier that the Enemy is trying to put in our path to keep us from appropriating that spiritual blessing & that healing.
68. I DON'T KNOW ABOUT OTHER CHRISTIANS, BUT THE ENEMY FIGHTS US ESPECIALLY HARD! Maybe it's not such a fight for other Christians to get healed. But we're in an army & we are in a battle & that's what we have to learn to do, to be fighters!—To overcome our lethargy instead of just sitting back & expecting Him to do it all.
69. WE'VE REALLY GOT TO DO SOMETHING TO GET OUR HEALING!—Not only by being obedient, but we've got to really go on the attack to get it! Do you understand? I never saw that so clearly as when Dad kept going over & over & over it! That was the main thing he said‚ "You've got to fight, you've got to rebuke the Enemy!" The promises are there but that's not enough.
STUBBORN SPIRITUAL CASES TAKE MORE FIGHT & EFFORT!
70. TODAY WHEN I WAS GOING THROUGH THE GOSPELS & LOOKING AT SOME OF THOSE HEALING TESTIMONIES, I saw that story in Matthew 17:15-21 that you're all familiar with about the lunatic child that fell into the fire & couldn't control himself because the evil spirit had taken him over & he was crazy, it just threw him in the fire & into the water & he couldn't control himself. He didn't have control because the devil had control of him. The father came to Jesus & said, 'Look, Your disciples couldn't heal my little son, they couldn't cast out the devil! What happened? What's wrong?" So Jesus rebuked the devil & cast him out & the child was cured.
71. THEN THE DISCIPLES CAME & ASKED JESUS WHY, & THE FIRST THING HE SAID TO THEM WAS, "IT'S BECAUSE OF YOUR UNBELIEF. If you had faith as a grain of a mustard seed you could say to this mountain be removed & cast into the depths of the sea!" They were surprised! Evidently they'd been casting out demons before & doing all these miracles, but here was one that they had a problem with, nothing happened!—in other words, He said, "It's your unbelief‚ you don't have enough faith.' Evidently it was a pretty bad case, maybe they hadn't seen such a bad case before. They were trying to cast it out in Jesus' name & they were claiming His Promises that He had the power & He'd given it to them, but nothing happened, it didn't take. But then He said something else, too. Do you know what it was? (David: "This kind goeth not out but by fasting & prayer.")—Right!
72. "HOWBEIT THIS KIND GOETH NOT OUT BUT BY PRAYER & FASTING!" (Mat.17:21) In other words, "You need more faith, but no matter how much faith you have, you're not gonna get rid of this one just by faith. It's going to take a lot more than that!" Evidently with the others the disciples had been going fine by just rebuking the Enemy & claiming the Scriptures that through power in the Name of Jesus you can get the victory. Maybe they weren't even rebuking the Enemy, they just were claiming Jesus power that he'd given them to cast out these devils & heal the lame & the blind & the sick.
73. BUT THEN THIS ONE WAS A BIG CASE & HE SAID, "LOOK, YOU'VE GOT TO DO MORE THAN THAT! This is a rough case, you've got to really attack & do something about this, you really have to be prayed up for this kind of situation & have done some fasting, too!" In other words, they had to really fight, they had to put forth an effort!—Not just lay their hands on them like Jesus said, "Lay hands on the sick & they shall be healed," (Mk.16:18) they had to do more than that now. It was twofold. Not only quote & claim the Word He'd given them, but in these stubborn spiritual cases they had to really go on the attack, have prayer & fasting, & that takes some work. Prayer is work! Real desperate prayer is fighting!—Not just saying a little verse "we shall lay hands on the sick & they shall be healed," but really getting desperate in prayer & really fighting for the victory!—Like Grandpa even did right here! It's a fight!
74. SO THERE'S A DIFFERENCE! SOME OF THEM COME OUT PRETTY EASILY & WE GET OUR PROBLEMS TAKEN CARE OF PRETTY EASILY, BUT OTHERS TAKE A LOT MORE. Remember how many times we had to pray for Magdalene? We had to pray three times for her & I think we got rid of a few more devils every time! Some of these things just take real fasting & prayer, a real concerted effort & real perseverance. They aren't all so easy & there are different degrees, so we can't treat every problem the same, demons & devils or spiritual or physical afflictions, whatever they are.
75. THERE ARE DIFFERENT CONDITIONS FOR DIFFERENT PEOPLE. Some people's afflictions and sicknesses are actually because they've really been bad. For instance, in "Are you Deaf?" (ML#1040) the Lord was trying to show the parents that the problem was because they were a bad problem and a bad influence. In other cases it's not because they have a big spiritual problem‚ it's more of a real outside attack to hinder the Work.
76. SO WE REALLY NEED TO GO ON THE ATTACK & REMEMBER‚ THAT ESPECIALLY NOWADAYS WHEN THE ENEMY IS REALLY FIGHTING US HARD, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO REALLY FIGHT BACK & REALLY STIR OURSELVES UP TO REALLY WANT THE VICTORY! It's not just a matter of saying a little prayer‚ but with stirring up ourselves, asking the Lord to make us desperate to get the victory, to want to fight! You can say the words, but with spiritual problems and spiritual battles you have to continually have that attitude of desperation, of a stirred-up spirit on the attack. We have to have that attitude in our heart! Not just come here and shout at the Enemy‚ which is a good thing to do and we'd better do that, but we've got to really feel it and continually be on the attack against our lethargy. (Jer.29:13; Isa.64:7)
VERSES ON FIGHTING & SPIRITUAL WARFARE!
77. WE'VE GOT TO STIR OURSELVES UP, WE CAN'T BE LAZY & LETHARGIC ANY MORE BECAUSE WE'RE IN AN ARMY! This thing about fighting & rebuking the Enemy‚ this is what armies do, they fight! And we should actually have much more the attitude of an army! I think it's good to call ourselves an army, to keep that in front of us, too keep reminding ourselves that it is a fight & we've got to "endure hardness as good soldiers," we've got to "fight the good fight"‚ "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal"‚ "earnestly contend for the faith!" (2Tim.2:3; 1Ti.6:12; 2Co.10:4-5; Jude 3)
78. WHAT OTHER VERSES CAN YOU THINK OF THAT SHOW THAT WE'RE IN A SPIRITUAL WARFARE & WE'RE AN ARMY? (John: "We wrestle not against flesh & blood."—Eph.6:12) (Fam: "Lay hold on eternal life."—1Tim.6:12) (Teen: "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh"—2Cor.10:3)—Yes, that's a good one too! (Fam: "Put on the whole armour of God!"—Eph.6:11)—Yes! What do you put armour on for, anyway?—For the battle! You'd never think of putting armour on unless you were going to war! (Fam: "The violent take it by force."—Mat.11:12) (Peter: "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this world."—2Tim.2:4) (Fam: "The Lord teaches my hands to war."—Psa.144:1) (Peter: "The Lord is a man of war."—Exo.15:3) (John: "Stand back & see Me fight."—Exo.14:13-14) That's a good one for showing we are in a war‚ true, but right now He wants us to fight! (Fam: "There is no discharge in this war!"—Ecc.8.8)—Yes, that's a good one. (Fam: "Fight the good fight of faith!"—1Tim.6:12) Those are all very good ones.
79. WE ARE GOING OVER A LOT OF VERSES HERE, BUT IF THE LORD GIVES YOU THE SAME VERSE LATER WHEN YOU'RE PRAYING, YOU SHOULD NEVER BE ASHAMED OR TOO PROUD TO REPEAT IT. Don't worry if somebody else has said it, the Lord can use it over & over! Look how many times Dad repeated "Rebuke the Enemy" here! you don't have to worry about repeating things! If the Lord gives you something it doesn't matter how many times we've said it before, nobody should think, "Oh well, you just thought that because somebody else brought it up," So if the Lord gives you something, even if it's exactly the same as He gave somebody else, you shouldn't be too proud to give it! Maybe it's a good confirmation! Maybe you need to repeat that Verse, maybe we need to hear it several times so it will stick!
80. SO THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF THINGS ABOUT WAR & FIGHTING! WE NEED TO STIR OURSELVES UP, "earnestly contend for the faith"! It's important! It's a need that we be real fighters, & fight against the natural tendencies of most of us that are a little lazy.
DAD IS A FIGHTER!
81. HERE'S ANOTHER QUESTION FOR YOU KIDS! THINK ABOUT GRANDPA. WHAT ARE THE THINGS THAT IMPRESS YOU THE MOST ABOUT GRANDPA? What kind of person is Grandpa? What are some of his characteristics that are the most outstanding to you? (Davida: He's full of faith & always in the Word!)—Very good! (David: He's a good fighter!) Is that what you were going to say too, Techi? (Techi: Yes!)—Very good! That's a confirmation, they both thought of that at the same time, Grandpa's a good fighter! If you think of him as anything, you think of him as a fighter, a real fighter! (Teen: I was thinking that not only is he a good fighter, but also he really likes to fight!)—Right, exactly! There are some quotes that we put in the MOP about how he loves the battle, he loves to be fighting for the Lord against the Devil for the souls of men!
82. LOVE IS THE MAJOR THING WE THINK OF WHEN WE THINK OF GRANDPA, BUT THERE'S SOMETHING ELSE THAT IS MORE CONNECTED WITH BEING A FIGHTER that is one of Grandpa's prominent characteristics. (Davida: Trusting in the Lord?) Well, to trust & to have faith is a real fight a lot of times, so that's connected too. Anything else? (Fam: He hates evil!)—Yes, & he's willing to fight against it! (Techi: He rebukes the Devil by name!)—Right! He's always fighting the Enemy & he gets the victory too. (Fam: He doesn't give up!)—That's right‚ he keeps going. (Fam: He puts the Lords work first.) No matter what his desires are, he always puts the Lord first!
83. (FAM: IF THERE'S A PROBLEM & SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT, HE DOESN'T JUST ACCEPT IT BUT HE ATTACKS IT!)—Yes, that's very good, that's what I was going to say‚ that's what I was especially fishing for! (Peter: He does it now!)—Those two things! As you said, if there's a problem, he attacks it! All those other things you said are right & very good, but this is the one I was trying to get that fits closely with fighting. If here's a problem he attacks it right now & he changes it!—Right! He always changes it if it's not right! He's always ready to fight to overcome the bad, the evil, or the thing that isn't right! He puts forth effort, he fights! It's real work to change those physical things with the handymen & doing all that work‚ that's a real fight! It's a real effort to change things for the better!
84. AND HE ALWAYS DOES IT NOW, TOO! Like Alexander the Great said when they asked him how he had conquered the world in such a short time, he replied‚ "By not delaying!" So that goes with fighting & with changing things, doing it now. Otherwise, if you put it off you'll probably never do it. If every time Grandpa saw something that needed to be changed he said, "We'll do it tomorrow," he probably wouldn't get half of the things done or changed that he does! So being a fighter & being willing to change things & do it now are all intertwined.
85. WHAT MAKES GRANDPA DIFFERENT THAN THE LEADERS OF ALL THE OTHER RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS? (David: He gives God the glory!)—Right! Well, I hope some of the others give God the glory too, but I think you're right‚ that Grandpa does it more than any of the people we know. (David: He follows the Lord the closest.)—Right! But there's something I'm thinking of in connection with what we were talking about. That's sort of a trick question, because I just said it. He's a fighter! He created a Revolution, right? Nobody else, none of the other religious movements, youth groups or denominations are revolutions! They're all part of the old. But Grandpa's been willing to fight to the extent of bringing about a total change, & to keep it a Revolution by continuing to fight & change.
86. A REVOLUTION IS A TOTAL CHANGE FROM ONE GOVERNMENT OR POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS SYSTEM TO ANOTHER, & sometimes changing it takes armed conflict, war, fight! We've had to fight to have this revolution & we're still having to fight to keep it a revolution, & to keep changing. And that's what makes Grandpa & our movement different than any of the other movements. So do you see how important fighting is & what the Lord thinks of it? We wouldn't even have the Family or the revolution today if Grandpa hadn't been a fighter & started it & continued to keep it going. we'd just be another denomination or youth group or church organisation.
87. SO YOU SEE WHY THE LORD EVIDENTLY THINKS PRETTY HIGHLY OF FIGHTERS. THERE ARE VERY FEW OF THEM IN THE WORLD! The majority of people just aren't fighters, even most of us aren't fighters normally, that's not our natural tendency. But we have to learn to be, because it's so important to the Lord. That's what the Lord wants in an army, in this movement. He doesn't have the potential for such a strong army of fighters anywhere else in the World, so we've gotta be His fighters! That's what He's trying to make of us, although it's really hard. I've prayed that he would make me one, but I need to pray it more!—Not only me‚ but all of us! We need to really stir ourselves up in everything, not only in healing, but in every thing we need to be fighters!
88. —JUST LIKE THE GOOD TALK THAT SARA HAD WITH YOU KIDS! (FSM 25) You can't just sit around & rest on your past accomplishments, you have to really do something‚ even though it takes a lot of effort. It really takes a lot of change & a lot of discomfort. You're a lot more comfortable just sitting around doing whatever you like to do. It takes real sacrifice & real unselfishness to launch out & tackle a new job, but that's what the Lord requires of us.
89. WE'RE AN ARMY & A REVOLUTION! DAD CALLED US A REVOLUTION & THE LORD CONFIRMED IT, & THE LORD CALLS HIS PEOPLE AN ARMY & SOLDIERS IN THE BIBLE. That's what He would like them to be & that's what they're supposed to be, but there are very few Christians that are real soldiers in His army! Where are they? So the Lord's counting on us to be the soldiers by even naming us a Revolution, even naming us an army! Of course, He'd like all his people to be that way, but they aren't. They just fell down on the job & they decided to go AWOL (absent without leave, or permission) & they're not around any more. So we've gotta do it!
IT TAKES EFFORT!—MORE CREDIT FOR OVERCOMING!
90. IT'S HARD FOR MOST OF US, IT TAKES A LOT OF EFFORT! For some people it isn't so hard, like Dad, because that's the way the Lord made him & he wants change the wants to fight. But most of us don't like to change and we're stuck in a rut most of the time. It's difficult for us & we don't like it & we resist it. Nevertheless the Lord will give you even more credit if you don't like it but you do it anyway & you overcome that natural tendency to be lazy & to be stuck in a rut.
91. IF THERE'S SOMETHING THAT'S DIFFICULT FOR YOU & YOU DO IT ANYWAY, THE LORD'S GOING TO GIVE YOU EVEN MORE CREDIT FOR IT THAN SOMEBODY WHO JUST LIKES TO DO IT & FOR WHOM IT'S NOT DIFFICULT! Of course in a way it's difficult for all of us fighting the Enemy, but I'm just saying some people naturally like to do one thing & other people don't. So it's harder for them & when they do get the victory the Lord really gives them more credit in that particular area than the one who is sort of created to be that way & likes to do that.
92 AN EXAMPLE OF THIS IS THAT PISCES LIKE TO BE HELPERS & SERVANTS OF OTHERS & NURSES & THEY LIKE TO HELP PEOPLE, THEY'RE NATURAL HANDMAIDENS & SERVANTS.—Not that it isn't hard sometimes, but that's their natural bent‚ the way the Lord made them. They want to help, they want to be helpers. But some of the rest of us have a hard time being helpers & it's harder for us to just do the humble, menial things to help others shine. But if the need is there & if we do, then the Lord's going to even give us more credit in that particular thing than He will people like Techi & others who just naturally want to do that. Not that they're not going to get a lot of credit too, but in all of these tendencies, if you have a hard time doing it but you overcome it & get the victory, then the Lord is going to give you a lot of credit for that & really bless you for that.
93. I WANT YOU TO REALLY THINK ABOUT THESE VERSES ON FIGHTING & REALLY MEMORISE THEM! I think most of them are in your Memory book & you've probably already memorised them. Another one is, "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper." (Isa.54:17)—In other words, it's a battle. "That thou mightiest war a good warfare because of the prophecies given." (1Tim.1:18) I wonder what those prophecies were? They were God's Word, right? He was able to be a good warrior & a good soldier because of the Word that he'd learned & been given. And I think we mentioned "whom resist steadfast in the faith." (1Pet.5:9)
94. IT SAYS THAT "JESUS ENDURED SUCH CONTRADICTION OF SINNERS AGAINST HIMSELF, SO BE NOT WEARY & FAINT IN YOUR MINDS." (Heb.12:3) Grandpa got that verse for me one time. Jesus endured contradiction against Himself, "but ye have not yet resisted unto blood." (Heb.12:4)—Resisting unto blood! We haven't fought the battle like Jesus did. But we're at least supposed to be strong & not faint in our mind, not be weary in well doing! "I have fought a good fight", "strong‚ waxed valiant in fight", "so fight I, not as one that beateth the air", "Whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven." Don't tell me that's not a fight! I mean, that's something that you really have to put a lot of effort into & really get all the forces of the Lord on your side. "And they overcame them by the blood of the Lamb & by the word of their testimony!" (Rev.12:4)—They overcame! That is a war too, that's a fight! "The spirit of a man sustaineth him," in other words a fighting spirit, one that's alive, one that's ready to go on the attack! (Pro.18:14) "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small." (Pro.24:10)
95. I WENT THROUGH & TRIED TO GET ALL THE VERSES I COULD, & I THINK TOGETHER WE GOT MOST OF THE MAIN VERSES ON BEING IN A WAR & FIGHTING. The whole Bible is full of that, everything it says is aimed toward going on the attack & putting forth an effort & being aggressive! Just because it doesn't happen to say those exact words doesn't mean the whole Bible doesn't imply it. The whole Christian life is a fight & you've got to fight every day, it's hard work! And when it's over here, then we'll have some more fights & some more work! But it won't be the same, you won't have to worry about it‚ you'll have your supernatural super powerful body. Now it's really a fight & sacrifice living for the Lord‚ but every time you win the battle & you gain more victories‚ your faith grows stronger & you get stronger because you're fighting the enemy.
96. THERE'S A GOOD QUOTE IN THE MOP THAT SAYS HE WHO ATTACKS US OR PERSECUTES US, HELPS US! Our adversary makes us strong, & in fighting the battles we get strong‚ our prayer & our faith muscles get used & get strengthened. (MOP 38:22) So don't be afraid of the fight! But most of us aren't so worried about being afraid, we just need some more umph, we need more attitude of fight. We're not so afraid, we just need to stir ourselves up & get on the attack—in everything! I don't just mean healing or spiritual battles, but in our everyday life & in everything we do we need to have enthusiasm & inspiration & put effort into it, be aggressive!
FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT!
97. HOW MANY OF YOU ARE AWARE THAT "FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT" IS A SECTION IN YOUR MOP & YOU READ IT RATHER OFTEN? I mean, you don't have to, but is this a favourite of anybody? (Fam: Oh yes!) Maybe now it should be if it hasn't been! Do you mind if I read a few?
98. GRANDPA SAYS: "I LOVE TO FIGHT, BECAUSE I KNOW I'M FIGHTING FOR THE ONE THAT'S WORTH FIGHTING FOR & the souls that are worth winning & the goals that are worth attaining!" (MOP 38:1)—That should be our prayer‚ that we get to the point where we love to fight, we love to put forth the effort, we love to teach others, instruct others & fight the Enemy! "Whatever you do, just keep on going for God!—You're bound to make it sometimes if you try often enough!" (MOP 38:17) That's a fight too‚ when you keep trying. "The only way we can ever be conquered is if we stop attacking & give up & stop having the faith to take the initiative!" (MOP 38:18)
99. "YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THE DEVIL & YOUR OLD SELF EVERY DAY!" (MOP 38:36)—Sorry! But if we learn to love to fight, even though it's a lot of work, then we won't have to say, "Sorry, oh dear, another fight!" Like Dad says, having sex is hard work, but if you love it then you didn't mind the hard work! So even though fighting the Devil is hard work, if you love the battle & ask the Lord to give you that fighting spirit, then it's not going to be such an "Oh what a weariness, another fight with the Devil!" You're going to be challenged & you're going to love to do it! You can love to do it because you know you're going to win the victory!
100. WE KNOW WE HAVE ALL THE LORD'S POWER ON OUR SIDE & WE'LL ALWAYS GET THE VICTORY OVER THE ENEMY! So we can always love to fight because even though we get a little bruised & battered in the process‚ we're going to win, & we're going to have a victory!—Not only a personal victory for us, but a victory for the Lord's work & for others. So it's a good motivation for fighting!—Right?
101. "YOU CAN NEVER STOP BATTLING, YOU CAN NEVER STOP WINNING VICTORIES, YOU CAN NEVER STOP PROGRESSING, OR YOU'LL BACKSLIDE! Each battle God gives you in which you win a victory is followed with a bigger battle, because He knows He can now trust you with more." (MOP 38:37,38) The Lord doesn't want us to fear the battles or think, "Oh dear, not another battle!" He want's us to enjoy them! Of course, He doesn't want us to desire to have conflict just so we can have a battle, but because we know there are always going to be battles coming He wants us to be challenged in fighting them & full of faith because we know we're going to get the victory! So lets get on with it, let's have the spirit to win the battle!
102. "TO GET GREATER VICTORIES YOU HAVE TO KEEP FIGHTING GREATER BATTLES, & for greater rewards you have to keep making greater sacrifices, & for greater joys you have to keep suffering greater pains!" "If you win this battle, He'll give you a bigger battle tomorrow!" "If you think the time's coming in this life when you'll no longer have to fight sin & self & the old man, you're mistaken!" "I like a battle! I love it!—Because I know I'm on the right side, the winning side, & I'm proud & happy to live or die for Him!" "It's a struggle to live!—it takes faith & courage & fight & a lot of real hard work to live the faith life!" "People who faint, faint first in their minds; they sort of give up mentally or spiritually first." "Give me some men who are stout-hearted men‚ who will fight for the right they adore! Start me with ten who are stout-hearted men‚ & I'll soon give you ten thousand more!"—A fighting spirit is contagious, it breeds more fighters! (MOP 38:41,44,54‚56-58)
103. I LOVE TO WATCH FIGHTERS IN ACTION! I love to see Dad when he's fighting the Devil or when he's socking it to the Enemy in the System‚ don't you? I even like to watch fighters who we know are on the wrong side. We see some of these people on videos, people who are fighting for Women's Lib & Communism & causes that we don't agree with, but you just enjoy watching a fighter‚ you admire them. If they're sincere, & they usually are if they're a fighter, you think, "Wow, I wish I was like that!"—Because they're willing to risk everything, no matter what their cause! We don't agree with their causes sometimes, but we enjoy watching somebody that really socks it to his adversaries or his opponents. No matter who they are or how bad they are, even if they're villains‚ they're admirable in a way because they're really fighters. There are so few fighters in the World. We need to be like that, but for the right cause!
104. "GOD DIDN'T CALL YOU TO A PLAYGROUND, BUT A BATTLEGROUND!" "The best way to stop an attack is to counter-attack! The best defense is an offense!" "We are in a fight to the finish & the victory is ours‚ praise be to God!" "We need to get more militant, more aggressive, more specific & go on the attack, take the offensive & hit the thing head on immediately!' "The more difficult the obstacle, the stronger one becomes after hurdling it." "Victory isn't just walking across the goal line, it's struggling through opposition to the goal!" It's a battle! If you're going to get the victory you've got to work, you don't just walk across the goal line! (MOP 38:66–68,73,82,86)
105. "MAY GOD GIVE US FIGHTERS WHO LIKE TO FIGHT FOR THE LORD WITH THE WEAPON OF HIS WORD & who enjoy defeating the Devil & who know they can't lose & who like to win victories!—Conquering heroes that like to live & fight & die for Jesus & their brethren & the Truth!" "If you don't know how to be bold, if you're not fighters, you don't belong to this outfit!" (MOP 38:88,94) See, there Grandpa says you've got to be fighters!
MORE IMPORTANT THAN BEING A FAMILY IS BEING A REVOLUTIONARY ARMY!
106. WE'RE A FAMILY, YES, BUT WE NEED TO BE A FIGHTING FAMILY! We need to keep in mind that it's more important to be a fighter even than a Family, because if our Family quits fighting it's not going to be a Family very long! Hosea brought that out real well in something he wrote for the Teens. (FSM 25) He said the thing that we started with was the Revolution for Jesus, the "Revolutionary Rules." All of us together weren't really a Family then, we were a team of teens. All our members starting out were ages 14 through 18 or 19. Most of the kids at Huntington Beach were young. Rachel was about the youngest at 14, & most of the others weren't any older than 18 or 19. I was about the oldest one when I got there, 23! I think Hosea was 19 at that time, Faithy was 17, & Deborah was 24, but almost everybody else was just a teen.
107. IT WAS A TEEN TEAM REVOLUTION FOR JESUS! It was a War, an Army, it wasn't a Family. We got to be a Family, thank the Lord, & we can think of the Family—a wonderful sample to the world of fellowship & unity & harmony & children & everything included—but as far as being militant & as far as our work for the Lord, we should think more about being an Army! We should keep that in mind even more than being a family.
108. LIKE HOSEA SAID, FAMILIES ARE IN FOREVER, YOU DON'T KICK OUT YOUR CHILDREN. You think about having a permanent place in the Family as your right in the Family. But in a Revolution or Army you've got to do your job or else out you go!—Or you get severe discipline or you get dishonorably discharged.—Which we don't do in a Family. In a Family your place is usually pretty secure. That's your place in the Family & that's how you think of a family. Of course, nowadays people get divorces right & left & everything. But a real family sticks together & their place is pretty secure & they're always family‚ they're always relatives. Even if they leave & go somewhere else they're still part of the family.
109. BUT A REVOLUTION & AN ARMY TAKE REAL WORK, REAL STRUGGLE! You've got to keep your place, you've got to be a real soldier if you're going to be able to stay in the army, You've got to be a real team & everybody's gotta pull their weight!—And if you don't out you go! You've got to hold fast that which thou hast. So it was good that Hosea brought that out. I thought that was a real good parallel, that it's important to look at the Revolution, which is what we started with. We became a Family later. When our couples got mated they had children & we were more a Family, but we started out as a Revolution & we've never changed from being a Revolution & an Army. We've always been that. That's even more important than being a Family, to keep in mind what our job is & what we're here for & what we're supposed to be doing. The Family is more our sample to the World. The Revolutionary Army is our vocation & job for the Lord!
MORE "FIGHT" QUOTES!
110. "IF YOU'RE A FIGHTER LIKE I AM, YOU ENJOY THE BATTLE! When you know you're fighting for the right you don't mind the battle. You enjoy a challenge & test to show your strength!"—In other words, to show the Lord's strength! "I don't do business with the Devil! I don't care to have him around & I'll scrap it out with him any day before I'll reach any compromise & live with him!" "We are at war with the Devil & the lies of the Devil! We are an army who is fighting spiritually, not with violence‚ not with arms‚ but with the Word of God! We are fighting for the truth, & you have to be a fighter for the truth of God, even if it kills you!" "The Lord & His Angels & you are far more powerful than the Devil & his demons! Even Satan has to obey your commands in the Name of Jesus! He might fight against you for awhile, like he is, but sooner or later he's going to have to knuckle under." "We who have Jesus have more power than Satan! We have more power than the demons, because we have the power of God & the power of His Spirit of Love! 'At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow!’" "You have to wage a militant warfare against the Enemy!" (MOP 38:99-101‚107–109)
111. "WE REBUKE YOU, SATAN, IN JESUS NAME, & ALL YOUR POWERS & angels & evil spirits! Thank You for Your great mighty army, Lord, that surrounds us, that resists all the powers of Hell though they be let loose against us. Even one Angel is enough to deal with them all! 'The Angel of the Lord encampeth around them that fear Him & delivereth them!’ thank you Lord for all Thy goodness & mercy. help us to stay close to Thee in the charmed circle of Thy protection, in Jesus' name!" "When you rebuke the Devil, you don't do it calmly, you get angry & practically yell & shout & curse & scream at him, you get so angry in the spirit!" "What fight your Father has & what marvelous love your Father David has for his children. Your father loves a fight for the Truth!" (MOP 38:110-111,117)
112. "WHEN THE ENEMY ATTACKS, IT REALLY GETS US ON THE STICK & on the ball & back close to the Lord & praying & working & fighting back & revives us spiritually & kills that old lazy lethargy that sets in when everything is going too smoothly & so easy that we don't have to stir up ourselves or fight or work very hard. (MOP 38:125)
113. "WHEN YOU ATTACK THE ENEMY‚ HE TRIES TO HIT BACK. Nevertheless, God's Word says if you attack him with great faith, if you resist him, 'he shall flee from thee'. That doesn't mean you're not going to have a little fight before he runs. He may fight a little bit, but if you keep on fighting he can't take it, he will turn & run. 'When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of God will raise up a standard against him!'" "Don't take the Devil's no for an answer, push ahead until you totally defeat him!" "You've got to be militant, you've got to be positive, you've got to rise up & fight the Devil, not just be passive!" "If you're a fighter, you've got to lose your temper sometimes & get angry at the Devil & sock it to him!" (MOP 38:130,136‚145‚146) See how much Grandpa's written about this already? This is really great, we ought to read this often! PTL!
114. I THINK THAT IS THE MAIN POINT THAT THE LORD'S TRYING TO GET THROUGH TO ME ABOUT. I preached a pretty good sermon to myself, & to you in the process!—That we really need to fight & we really need to stir ourselves up‚ not only with healing but in everything else. Of course, then you have more battles‚ but you get stronger every time you fight them!
JUST OPEN YOUR MOUTH, & HE WILL FILL IT!
115. I WAS LYING THERE PRAYING ABOUT THIS MEETING. I said, "Oh Lord, it would be a lot easier if I could just really be a Prophetess, just open my mouth & you could give me pure prophecy!" I know it's hard getting started (maybe I shouldn't talk because I don't even prophesy), but I know from what others have said that it's hard to get over the hump & start‚ but then it just flows. You open your mouth & you don't have anything more to do with it except to say what He gives you, & of course that takes faith. But the Lord just takes over & does it.
116. SO I SAID‚ "IT WOULD BE SO MUCH EASIER TO DO THAT THAN TRYING TO COME HERE & GO TO ALL THIS TROUBLE TO TRY TO THINK OF WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO SAY & give this big talk." I thought, "Oh, I wish I could do the other instead." And the Lord answered me with something like: "You're being so foolish, like a foolish child! What's the difference? It's not self–effort, you're not supposed to be working at it. Forget that you're supposed to have anything to do with it! Whether you give a talk or a prophecy it's not much different, you just open your mouth & I will fill it!"
117. IN PROPHECY YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH & HE FILLS IT, & IN A MEETING LIKE THIS I OPEN MY MOUTH & HE FILLS IT! What's the difference? I'm not having to work any more than if I had to give a pure prophecy. It's all the Lord, it's all the Lord's Words. So that sort of made me ashamed of myself that I thought it would be so much easier to just give you a pure prophecy than sitting here & giving you this talk. It's all the Lord's Word & I mostly read it & it was already given by Grandpa for us anyway, so that's even easier than getting a pure prophecy. (No matter how we do it, we are all just vessels through which the Lord's word can be passed on to others.)
SPIRITUAL ATTACKS THROUGH PHYSICAL CAUSES!
118. DAD SAYS THIS PROBLEM WITH MY EYES IS A SPIRITUAL ATTACK! But spiritual attacks often come as a result of physical things, not just out of the blue.—Dad's eye hurting him, that was real spiritual attack that didn't really have any physical reason, or at least any normal physical reason. Occasionally people have choked in the night, choked on nothing, & it was actually something demonic. Thank the Lord, the Lord protects us from any serious results! Most of our afflictions are used as spiritual attacks against us, but they have some physical cause.—You say‚ "I got a cold because I got run down." The devil didn't just zap you with a cold just like that. It usually has a physical cause, you got run down or your resistance was down through lack of sleep or neglecting to eat right or too much sex or whatever.
119. BUT JUST BECAUSE THEY HAVE PHYSICAL CAUSES DOESN'T MEAN IT'S NOT ALSO A SPIRITUAL ATTACK! It was a spiritual attack on Dad's esophagus, the Lord showed him that it was Ashraf & the Sphinx, but it had a physical reason! It was because he'd damaged the valve & his esophagus, even though it was a spiritual attack. But the Enemy often uses the physical causes, usually because we're doing something to damage ourselves, then it's a weak spot where the Devil can attack. Not always, but normally if you get a cold it's because you're run down or you're not getting enough exercise, not doing something, so a lot of times it's our own fault. Where there's a weakness, then the Enemy can get in because we're not doing everything we should, we're not having enough rest or something. so because I did really damage my eyes, even though unintentionally, the Enemy is trying to use this to attack & stop me from being able to do the Lord's work.
120. BUT I CAN HAVE FAITH FOR MY HEALING & MOST OF US CAN HAVE FAITH FOR OUR HEALING BECAUSE WE KNOW IT'S THE LORD'S WILL that His work not be hindered. So if you know that, you can have faith, absolute faith that the Lord wants you to be healed.
SHOULD WE PRAY FOR 20/20 VISION?
121. BUT HERE'S ANOTHER PROBLEM: IF THE LORD'S GOING TO HAVE TO GO BACK & REPAIR THE DAMAGE FOR THAT THREE YEARS I've been damaging my eyes, why doesn't He do a super-duper 100% job & just go the rest of the years back—in which I was abusing my eyes then too, but it didn't really hurt me so much—& make my eyes completely 20/20 vision? Why doesn't He do the whole job? Since I have to pray for healing anyway, the Lord could do that just as easily. If He could go back three years & repair the damage, He could just as easily do the whole thing!
122. I HAVE FAITH THAT THE LORD COULD EASILY DO IT, BUT I CAN'T HAVE QUITE SO MUCH FAITH ON THAT THAT HE WILL. He might, we could pray for it, but I don't need that. Three years ago with my glasses I was fine. It's a bother to wear glasses, but it's not something that He actually has to do if we have glasses & the money, we can easily go & get them. Dad said, "Well, maybe it would make you too proud if the Lord did that! You'd have such a wonderful spiritual victory!" Who knows? Maybe it would!
123. IN THE TRIBULATION IF YOU SMASH YOU GLASSES & YOU CAN'T SEE TO READ & it's all blurry & you can't see two feet ahead of you, then you would have a very good reason for saying, "Okay, Lord, you've got to heal me!" We'd have faith that the Lord would do it because we'd have to have it‚ it's a necessity.—Just like I have to have healing right now for the Lord to heal the damage I've done to my eyes for the last three years‚ that's a necessity. But as far as going back all the way, I'd like to have better eyesight so that I wouldn't have to wear glasses, & the Lord could do that, we can ask Him to do it if He will‚ but I just don't have the faith that He absolutely has to.—He might!
124. THE LORD DOES A LOT OF THINGS FOR US AS SORT OF FRINGE BENEFITS! When you pray for something to get healed, sometimes you get something else healed at the same time, something that you didn't even ask for. That's happened lots of times! People were praying for one thing & they got another thing healed at the same time. But the Lord doesn't have to do that. The things the Lord has to do we can really claim! We can say with certainly, "Okay, Lord we trust You, You've got to do it! It's Your reputation, it's Your work‚ so we trust You!" But as far as all of us throwing away our glasses & praying for 20/20 vision, well, what reason do we have to do that?
125. I THOUGHT‚ "WELL, MAYBE I HAVE A LITTLE MORE REASON SINCE I HAVE TO PRAY FOR MY EYES ANYWAY, TO PRAY THE LORD DOES THE WHOLE JOB 100%!" I'm going to pray for that‚ but I don't know if the Lord will do that or not. And if He doesn't, I won't think that He failed or anything, because it's not something I need. It would be just like asking the Lord to show everybody a miracle they can all see. Well, that's good, that's a testimony, the Lord can do it, but I don't really need it that much. I was doing okay with my glasses.
126. BUT ANYWAY, WE DO NEED THIS MIRACLE OF THE LORD CURING MY EYES OF WHATEVER I DID TO THEM, & it's a pretty serious thing because the Lord is showing me that the Devil is really trying to even blind me! It's even a confirmation because off & on I've thought‚ "What would I do if I were blind?" It shows that if you don't fight some of these things, it's not just that you won't get healing, but that you may get worse & worse & worse!
127. THAT'S ANOTHER IMPORTANT REASON FOR FIGHTING THINGS, NOT JUST TO GET THE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM as it now stands in the present, but because if you don't fight, it may get worse & worse & worse & you may be really in a bad way! So sometimes when you have an affliction like my eyes, which hurt me & bother me but not to the point that I can't read, I may be tempted not to get so desperate. But if we don't get the victory, it can even get worse! Like the Lord said here, the Devil's trying to blind me, so it could even be worse & get worse. That's another reason that you need to really fight for the victory, because if you don't get it you may be in a worse situation tomorrow or next week or next year!
WHY RECURRING AFFLICTIONS?
128. I HATE TO TAKE SO MUCH TIME, BUT I ALSO WANTED TO TELL YOU ABOUT HERPES. I really think you here who have prayed for deliverance have been healed. Now this is not to say that I think everybody in the Family who has prayed to be healed of herpes but still has attacks has been healed. But you who have done everything you could & you really confessed & progressed, & your problems that the herpes may have been a physical manifestation of are gone & you've taken care of them, then you have a right to claim your healing. You really did get the victory over the things that the Lord was dealing with you about when you had such bad cases of herpes. You did really get healed & you also got spiritually healed at the same time. You made progress & you got some of these things taken care of that the Lord was dealing with you about.
129. BUT OCCASIONALLY YOU HAVE RECURRING SYMPTOMS. Dad used to have a very weak heart & when I first met him he could hardly do much strenuous activity of any kind without it bothering him. But the Lord's really healed him, his heart's stronger than mine now! But once in awhile he gets that little twinge or even sharp pains in it because he's overdone in some way or another. But the point is that he has been healed‚ we would never say he's not healed just because he has some of these recurring symptoms occasionally.
130. IT'S JUST LIKE IF YOU WERE COMPLETELY PARALYSED ALL THE WAY DOWN, arms & legs & everything & you couldn't move at all, & people prayed for you & everything got all better except one arm was still paralysed. Would you say you were healed? (Fam: Yes!) Of course you'd say you were healed! Maybe the Lord wants to keep that arm paralysed to remind you & remind others what a great miracle He's done for you!
131. YOU SHOULDN'T MINIMISE YOUR HEALING! I think there's a reason the Lord lets those things recur sometimes, or even some little symptoms hang around, it's not because you haven't been healed!
132. I KNOW THAT APOLLOS, WHO RECENTLY VISITED US, FOR EXAMPLE, HAS HAD ALL KINDS OF OUTBREAKS, BUT DEAR APOLLOS HAS ONE OF THE MOST GLORIFIED JOBS IN THE WHOLE FAMILY RIGHT NOW, along with some of the rest of you! But he has one of the most important projects next to Dad's right now, he's writing "Heaven's Girl." He has made a lot of progress in his life & I think he got the victory over all the problems that he could, everything that he knew to get the victory, but he has had frequent outbreaks of herpes lately, even after his prayer for healing.
133. SO I THINK FOR APOLLOS THAT THAT WAS SOMETHING TO KEEP HIM HUMBLE.—Because how else could the Lord keep him humble? We wouldn't want the Lord to break his wrists so he couldn't write or make him lose all his teeth so he couldn't talk into his dictaphone, so what other way does the Lord have to keep him humble? Well, I'm sure He could have thought of something. But looking at it from this viewpoint, if I were the Lord & wanted to keep him humble, what could I do that's not going to hurt his work & ministry? Having that case of herpes doesn't seem to bother his work at all. It may have made him feel sort of like a leper sometimes & made him feel uncomfortable, but it sure didn't slow down or stop his work. And maybe that's just what he needed, that kind of humbling‚ because otherwise he could get pretty proud!
134. I'M NOT SAYING THAT IT'S ALWAYS JUST FOR HUMBLING, SOMETIMES IT MAY BE SORT OF A MONITOR TO KEEP YOU DESPERATE, to catch you up & say, "Okay, watch it!"—Sort of like a warning bell! Maybe it's not only for humbling, but as a warning, sort of a monitor or to keep you desperate & close to the Lord. This doesn't just apply to herpes‚ it applies to everything! So you see, that's pretty smart of the Lord! He doesn't let you have anything permanently that will distract you from your work or keep your work from going. That's good efficiency! The Lord really has things under control & he knows what's going to really keep you in line without hurting your work or others or anything like that.
135. IF SOMETIMES YOU DON'T GET COMPLETELY HEALED—MAYBE YOUR HAIR FALLS OUT & THE LORD HEALS YOU & BRINGS IT ALL IN AGAIN BUT LEAVES A LITTLE BALD SPOT—YOU DON'T SAY YOU'RE NOT HEALED! You're healed & obviously the Lord did a miracle, but maybe He just wants you to remember that! But you would never say you weren't healed. You've got to keep claiming the victory!
136. FOR PURPOSES OF PRACTICALITY, SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO SAY "THE HERPES PEOPLE" BECAUSE WE JUST HAVE TO KEEP IT FROM SPREADING‚ & there are practical rules, just things we have to do to avoid contagion. But in saying that, we don't want to imply that you haven't been healed! I know it's a little odd‚ but for practical purposes in the Home we have to separate people as far as sleeping arrangements go. I believe you were really healed! But also you need to remember as Dad said‚ that if you get out of the Lord's will‚ you're apt to get back whatever you've been healed from. And if or when this should be the case, or for any other reason you should have a recurrence, we have to protect others from contracting it.
137. BUT I THINK IN THESE RECURRING THINGS THAT IF YOU'RE REALLY ON THE RIGHT TRACK & your heart's really right with the Lord‚ that you ought to search further for a reason & not think it's because the Lord didn't heal you or because you're necessarily doing something wrong.—You could be, I don't know! You've got to know in your own heart. But you've got to accept your healing & know you were healed! Everybody does some things wrong occasionally, but if you can't find anything wrong, any specific thing that the Lord's dealing with you about at the moment, then I think you could look for another reason why the Lord allowed it, maybe to keep you humble or to keep you in tune & in touch with Him! So I think that's something that we ought to think about & reflect on to see why it is.
138. WE SAY THE LORD DELIVERS US OUT OF ALL OUR AFFLICTIONS, A-L-L, ALL, EVERY AFFLICTION! Well that's true, but I don't think the Lord is going to deliver us out of everything entirely in every case until we get our new bodies! It's a promise‚ but I don't think the promise is always for the present.—In most cases it is. In most cases the Lord "delivers you out of them all" one at a time, He delivers you out of one & then you get another, & the Lord delivers you from that, He keeps delivering you!
139. BUT PEOPLE LIKE FANNY CROSBY & HELEN KELLER & OTHER GREAT PEOPLE OF THE LORD, THE LORD DIDN'T DELIVER THEM FROM THEIR AFFLICTIONS UNTIL THEY WENT TO BE WITH HIM! So in some cases the Lord allows some afflictions. You could accuse them of not having enough faith, but I don't believe that. Fanny Crosby was a woman of great faith, Helen Keller too, as well as many many Christians down through the ages. So I think it was for some other reason. If they hadn't been blind they never would have accomplished what they did. So there are a lot of different reasons sometimes why the Lord allows some afflictions to hang on or maybe even be permanent.
140. I DON'T THINK THE LORD ALLOWS US TO HAVE HARDLY ANY REAL SERIOUS ONES BECAUSE OF THE JOB WE'VE GOT TO DO FOR THE LORD! We've got to do it & we have such a short time to do it, we can't be so hampered & hindered. So it's not only because of our obedience, I believe a lot of these great handicapped Saints of God were obedient too, but it's because we just have a different job to do & we have to do it quick & we can't be hindered with wheelchairs & blindness & things like that. That takes a lot of time & those are handicapped people that you have to spend a lot of extra time & attention on. We can't do that, because we're an army & we've got to be pretty well & pretty free & able to work.
141. DAD GAVE ME THAT VERSE, "WHOM THE SON SHALL SET FREE IS FREE INDEED." (Jn.8:36) The Lord really frees us from some of these things! If we're bound or chained by the Enemy‚ the Lord has got to free us! PTL! Well‚ maybe you could lay hands on me now & pray for the Lord to heal me.
FAMILY PRAYERS & PROPHECIES FOR MARIA!
142. (PETER: THANK YOU FOR MARIA, LORD, WHO HAS BEEN SO FAITHFUL TO SERVE THEE ALL THESE YEARS, so faithful in her love for Thee & her love for Dad & her care for the Light, Lord! She's upheld him so many times throughout so many years through so many battles! She's encouraged him through so many things & has upheld his arms in battle. She's humbled herself, by coming here before us in obedience to Thy Word. She heard the Word, she had the faith & she came. She believes Thy Word & she knows that You have already healed her, Lord, because You have promised it. You have promised according to Your Word, the Word that You have glorified even above Your Name. So we know as we stand upon Your promises‚ Jesus, that she is healed because You promised it!
143. (WE KNOW THY WORD IS TRUE & WE KNOW THAT YOU NEVER FAIL! JESUS‚ WE COME BEFORE YOU NOW, AS DAD SAID WE SHOULD, TO RESIST THE ENEMY IN JESUS' NAME! Lord, as she shared with us tonight, this is a battle, it's a warfare, & we have to resist him in Jesus' name! We resist Oplexicon in Jesus' name! We rebuke Ashraf in Jesus' name! We rebuke these eye aches & headaches, Lord! We cast them out, we rebuke them in Jesus' name! "Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the World!" You've given Your disciples not only the power to lay hands on the sick that they shall be healed, but to rebuke the Enemy & that he has to flee! We resist you, Satan! We rebuke the enemy! We resist you, in Jesus' name! Rebuke the Enemy, in Jesus' name! TYL! TYL!)
144. (TECHI: JESUS, PLEASE REALLY TOUCH & HEAL MOMMY & PLEASE TAKE AWAY HER EYE ACHE & HEADACHE! Please just rebuke all the demons of Hell‚ Lord, that are trying to fight Your work & to fight all the things that she's supposed to do. She really needs her eyes, Lord! We know that the Devil is just trying to blind her & we know that if we rebuke the Devil in the Name of Jesus then You won't let that happen. So please, Jesus, take away her eye ache & heal her right now so Grandpa won't have to have an eye ache either. Please, Jesus, just take away this thing! Rebuke the demons of Hell & Ashraf & Oplexicon too & heal her up right away! Amen! TYJ!)
145. (MARIA: TYJ! "BY YOUR STRIPES WE ARE HEALED!" TYL! TYJ!) (Davida: "Behold‚ I am the Lord‚ the God of all flesh, is there anything too hard for Me?") (Teen: "Faith is the hand of the Spirit which reaches out & receives!") (David: "Thanks be to God Who giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ!") (Techi: "Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears, behold‚ I will heal thee!") (Fam: "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous to deliver them out of all their troubles!")
146. (JOHN: "WHEN THE ENEMY SHALL COME IN LIKE A FLOOD, THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD SHALL RAISE UP A STANDARD AGAINST HIM! He that made the ear, shall He not hear? And He that formed the eye, shall He not see? Surely I will heal thee because thou hast obeyed the Words of My Prophet!") TYJ! Amen, Lord, they're Your eyes, they're all Yours, Lord, it's Your work, Lord! TYL!
147. (TEEN: "FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH! Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called & hast professed a good profession before many witnesses! Fight the good fight of faith & lay hold on that good eyesight!") Amen, make me a fighter, more of a fighter, Lord, to rebuke the Enemy & fight him at every inch!—Every paper, Lord, every look, in Jesus' name! TYL! Hallelujah!
148. (DAVID: "ARE THERE ANY SICK AMONG YOU? LET HIM CALL FOR THE ELDERS OF THE CHURCH & let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, & the prayer of faith shall save the sick & the Lord shall raise him up!") Thank you for Thy promises, Lord! Hallelujah!
149. (PETER: "HE SENT HIS WORD & HEALED THEM, EVEN AS I HAVE HEALED THEE WITH THE SEVEN KISSES OF DAVID!) Hallelujah! TYJ! Thank you for Thy miracles! TYJ! (Teen: "The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.") Hallelujah! Amen! TYJ! It's Your Word, Lord! It's Your Word that has the power! TYJ! TYL!
150. (DAVID: "I AM THE LORD, THE GOD OF ALL FLESH, IS THERE ANYTHING TOO HARD FOR ME?) Hallelujah! You can do everything, Lord! "According to your faith be it unto you," in Jesus' name! (Teen: "God can heal anything!) Amen! Thank you for breaking the Enemy's power‚ Lord! thank you for setting me free! TYL! By Thy Word & Thy power! Hallelujah! TYJ! (Family praises!) (Sings: "We'll Give All the Glory to Jesus!")—Jesus did it! PTL!
151. (FAM: WHEN WE WERE PRAISING THE LORD I GOT, "REJOICE & BE EXCEEDING GLAD‚ FOR I HAVE GRANTED THE PETITIONS OF MY CHILDREN!") (Fam: Also when we were praising in the end I got, "They looked unto Him & Their faces were lightened & they were not ashamed‚" And I also got the verse‚ "The Word of God is quick & powerful & sharper than any two-edged sword!" I couldn't remember the end & all I thought of was "piercing the Devil to the heart!")
152. (FAM: I GOT THE LITTLE POEM: "THE GREAT PHYSICIAN NOW IS HERE, THE SYMPATHISING JESUS. He stoops with bended ear to hear, oh hear the Voice of Jesus!" And I just had that picture of Him stooping down to touch & heal.) (Teen: I got "Leave no place to the wicked one‚ but fight!") (Davida: I got the verse, "He that has ears to hear‚ let him hear," but instead it was "he that has eyes to see, let him see!")
153. PTL! THAT REMINDS ME!—THE VERSE ABOUT THE EARS WOULD BE APPROPRIATE TOO BECAUSE I WAS EVEN GOING TO ASK FOR PRAYER FOR MY EARS, BECAUSE I'VE HAD A LOSS OF HEARING IN ONE. I forgot about that. So I was going to ask for prayer for that too, because for me to have poor hearing is quite a handicap! Dad has poor hearing in one ear & when we're lying like this facing each other in bed & I talk to him‚ he has to raise his head to hear me, & when he talks to me I have to raise my head to hear him!
154. AMEN, LORD, DO TOUCH MY EARS! Amen, You do that too, Lord! You opened the ears of those that were closed. "Ephratah, be ye opened!" (Mk.7:33-25) So restore the hearing also, Lord, it's not too hard for you. you can do anything! If you can heal my eyes, which I believe You have, You can also heal my ear!—In Jesus' name! You do it!—In Jesus' name! Rebuke the Enemy, Lord, that keeps me from hearing Your Words, it's so important. Help me to hear them, break the Enemy's hold on this, Lord. Rebuke him, in Jesus' name‚ & restore the hearing that I need, in Jesus' name! TYL! TYJ! Amen! TYL! Hallelujah! TYJ! (Teen: I got the quote, "Praise is the victory!?"—And also the quote, "The Lord's hand is not shortened that He cannot save, neither His ear heavy that He cannot hear.")
155. (FAM: RIGHT WHILE YOU WERE TALKING I HAD A VISION OF YOUR EYES & OPTIC NERVES, & THESE WHITE BANDS CONTRACTING THEM, & THEY POPPED, THEY WENT OFF! And then right when you prayed at the end & said, "Thank You Lord for breaking the power of the Enemy," I got the verse, "Whatsoever is loosed on Earth is loosed in Heaven," like it takes power & fight to either bind or loose something. And when I got that again I saw like an ax that cut these things & they opened up. At the same time I got "Effective are the fervent prayers of the children of David!" And just when we were praying for your ear I saw what looked like a plug of wax & there was this little guy with a big kind of rod & he went bop, & the thing just popped out!)
156. THAT GOES ALONG WITH THE VERSE DAD GOT, THAT "WHOM THE LORD HAS SET FREE IS FREE INDEED, YOU CANNOT BE IN BONDAGE!" (Peter: I got the verse where it says that Jesus came to give sight to the blind, & it also says to set the captives free.) (Luk.4:18) (Fam: One short quote from "The Empty Wind" that I memorised a long time ago but I didn't remember until now says, "The challenger who knows he's a winner has got everything going for him, including God!"
157. (TECHI: I GOT, "THE FERVENT PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN AVAILETH MUCH!")—Amen! Think of that! With all these righteous men & women here, we can't lose! (David: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!")—Beautiful promise! Anybody else? (Fam: When you were praying, "Lord, make me a fighter," all of a sudden the words came to me, "Behold, I'll make you a sharp–toothed threshing instrument like unto David that ye may be able to stand at the time appointed!" And then also when we first started praying I had a vision of you, the picture Eman drew of the FFer with the fish sucking on her breast‚ "Mothers of God," but it was you with the Lord, like everything was under control.) TYL!
158. ISN'T THAT BEAUTIFUL? THE LORD DOESN'T ONLY DO THE HEALING & THE WORK, BUT THEN HE GIVES US ALL THESE PROMISES ON TOP OF IT! Isn't that wonderful? That's an extra bonus of encouragement, really beautiful! PTL! TTL! Keep fighting!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family